文档介绍：20th Century English literature
Historical Background
collapse of the Victoria value
End of the Victoria Era
decline of the British Empire
2. Frequent economic depressions and mass unemployment
First World War (1914-1918): economic dislocation and spiritual disllusion
Second World War : disintegration of the “sun-never-set Empire”; independence of the former colonies (India in 1947),
Cultural Background
Victoria thought: determinism , Naturalism
theories
a. Einstein’s theory of relativity
b. Karl Marx and Engel's scientific socialism
c. Edmond Freud's psychoanalysis
d. Henry Bergson’s Intuitionism (1859-1941)
e. Existentialism (after WWII)
Lit. in the 20th Cen.
Three stages:
I. 1901-WWI: realistic tradition
Novel: Herbert e Wells 乔治·威尔斯; John Galsworthy 约翰·高尔斯华绥; Arnold t 阿诺德·贝内特; William Somerset Maugham 威廉·毛姆 Rudyard Kipling 吉卜林
Pioneers of Modernism: Henry James亨利·詹姆斯;
Joseph Conrad 康拉德; E. M. Forster福斯特
Henry James: the objective psychological novel
Joseph Conrad: Polish-born English novelist, considered to be among the great modern English writers, whose work explores the vulnerability and moral instability at the heart of human lives.
Masterpieces: Lord Jim, 1901
Heart of Darkness,1902
E. M. Forster: Aspects of the Novel, 1927
A Passage to India, 1924
Poetry
Thomas Hardy: Dynasts, 1904 《列王》
The War Poets: Rupert Brooke, Siegfried Sasson,
Wilfrel Owen,
Drama
e Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950萧伯纳
Irish-born writer, considered the most significant British dramatist since Shakespeare.
Masterpieces: ’s Profession, 1894
Major Barbara,1905 ; Pygmalion,1912
Artistic features: problem play, variety of characterization
witty dialogue, comic satire
The Irish Dramatic Movement
leaders: Yeats and Lady Gregory
The Irish Renaissance: a revival of interest in Irish language and literature in Ireland
The Abbey Theater
II. Between the two world wars: climax of modernism
Novel: three masters of modernism
M